SLO County water supplier sues 3 companies over cancer-linked chemicals found in wells
The Atascadero Mutual Water Company is suing three prominent companies after chemicals linked to cancer and other health conditions were found in wells that supply drinking water to the city.
The water utility’s product liability lawsuit, filed Oct. 15 in San Luis Obispo Superior Court, aims to recover damages from 3M Co., DuPont and Chemours Co., which use the chemicals.
Known as “forever chemicals,” perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used in manufacturing and have appeared in products such as Teflon cookware, firefighting foam, cosmetics and water- and stain-resistant products since the 1940s, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Two of the most studied and commonly used PFAS chemicals — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) — do not break down and can accumulate over time, causing damage to people and the environment, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In 2019, the EPA mandated that some municipalities test their water for PFAS, including the city of Atascadero.
Sampling showed three wells managed by Atascadero Mutual Water Supply that provide water used for drinking and landscaping to the city were contaminated with forever chemicals, said John Neil, the utility’s general manager.
Under guidelines established by the California State Water Resources Control Board, the utility had to stop using the contaminated wells and find a solution for removing the chemicals from the water supply, Neil said.
In the meantime, Neil said, the utility has found a way to make the water safe for human consumption.
“We’re looking at several million dollars in capital costs and several hundred thousand dollars a year in maintenance costs,” Neil said. “These manufacturers knew that there was an issue with these chemicals in the environment.”
Forever chemicals found in Atascadero water supply
PFOA and PFOS were first detected in Atascadero’s water supply in 2019 as part of testing required by the EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, Neil said.
That rule was passed in 2018 as part of an effort to detect the scope of PFAS contamination in the national water supply, according to the EPA.
Based on EPA guidelines, water containing 70 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFOA and PFOS requires the water supplier to send a health advisory notice to the community about the contamination.
At the time of testing, the three wells contained a combined 14 parts per trillion of PFOA and 13 parts per trillion of PFOS, according to the notice.
Those PFOA and PFOS levels were below the response level established by the EPA that would require the utility to pull the wells out of service or develop a treatment plan, Neil said.
But in February 2020, the State Water Board made the guidelines for handling water containing PFOA and PFOS stricter.
That meant Atascadero Mutual Water Supply had to take its three contaminated wells out of commission and find a new solution, Neil explained.
In the interim, the utility received permission from the State Water Board to blend the water from the contaminated wells with uncontaminated water from other sources to dilute the levels of PFOA and PFOS to safer levels, Neil said.
But that’s just a temporary mitigation measure for Atascadero Mutual Water Supply, which, according to its website, serves more than 30,000 Atascadero residents with more than 10,000 service connections.
The utility’s long-term plan is to build a PFAS treatment facility.
According to Neil, Atascadero Mutual Water Supply is currently conducting a pilot study to gather information about the most effective and affordable way to remove PFOA and PFOS from Atascadero’s water supply.
The best method for treating the contaminated water may be to filter it through granulated activated carbon (GAC), Neil said, similar to the kind used in a Brita water filter.
That method can be 100% effective at removing PFOA and PFOS constituents from water, according to the EPA.
Once the pilot study is finished, the next step will be to secure permits from the State Water Board to implement the most cost-effective water treatment solution at the Atascadero Mutual Water Supply, Neil said.
The Atascadero Mutual Water Supply anticipates it will achieve compliance with State Water Board standards by completing the PFAS treatment solution in January 2023, according to an October progress report submitted to the agency.
How PFAS impacts human health and the environment
The United States phased out use of PFOA and some PFOS in manufacturing in the early 2000s, but the chemicals can be imported in some consumer goods, according to the EPA.
Since these forever chemicals don’t break down naturally, they have been discovered in animals, wildlife and the water supply, the federal agency said.
The chemicals are associated with poor health outcomes in humans, including elevated cholesterol, cancer and low birthweight, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
A limited number of businesses manufacture PFOA and PFOS, Neil said.
The attorneys hired by the Atascadero Mutual Water Supply identified 3M, DuPont and Chemours as the businesses responsible for putting PFOA and PFOS into the city’s water supply, according to the court filing.
In October 2019, Neil wrote a letter to U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal, who represents the 24th Congressional District of California, urging the Democrat to make PFAS producers responsible for cleaning up contamination and disposing of the chemicals.
“Those costs and responsibilities must remain with the original polluters that introduced PFAS into the environment,” Neil wrote. “Failure to protect water utilities from this liability would victimize the public twice: once when they are forced to pay to remove PFAS from their water and again when they are forced to pay to clean up PFAS elsewhere.”
Atascadero Mutual Water Supply is one of hundreds of municipalities that have sued PFOA and PFOS manufacturers, alleging the businesses knowingly contaminated the water with these toxic chemicals, according to the letter.
The 2019 movie “Dark Waters” is based on the true story of an environmental lawyer who represented a Parkersburg, West Virginia, farmer who sued DuPont for contaminating his water supply with PFAS.
Neil assured people that the situation of PFAS contamination in Atascadero differs from what’s depicted in the film. “The levels that they were finding were like 100,000 times more than what we’re seeing,” he said.
In July 2021, DuPont and other companies settled for $65.25 million with the town of Hoosick Falls, New York, after its water supply was contaminated with PFOA, according to Reuters.
Three years earlier, DuPont and Chemours paid out thousands of settlements totaling $671 million after chemicals used by their companies were linked to numerous deaths, Reuters reported.
In some of these cases, drinking water was contaminated due to the community’s proximity to a plant that manufactures PFOA.
The city of Atascadero isn’t near a manufacturer that uses forever chemicals, Neil noted, nor is it close proximity to an airport or military case.
Still, he noted, “These chemicals are in a lot of consumer products, like Teflon, cosmetics, Scotchguard and pizza boxes.”
“We suspect it’s getting into the wastewater and then coming up through the groundwater,” he said, resulting in negative impacts for the community and the utility that serves it.
“We’ve been harmed because those manufacturers allowed these forever chemicals into the environment and we’ve been harmed because several of our assets are no longer usable because of it,” he added. “The only way that we can make those assets usable, i.e., the wells, are to treat it.”
How you can protect yourself from forever chemicals
According to Neil, there are always some substances in drinking water.
Common minerals found in water include sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate and sulfate, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Ground water may contain dissolved minerals and gases that give it the tangy taste enjoyed by many people,” the USGS said. “Without these minerals and gases, the water would taste flat.”
In the case of water contaminated with cancer-linked chemicals such as PFOA and PSOS, “you’d have to drink a tremendous amount of water, I suspect, to have ill effects,” Neil said.
There are measures that Atascadero residents can take to ensure that the water they are drinking is free of harmful substances, Neil said.
One of the best methods is for individuals to use a granulated activated carbon water filter, such as those made by Brita or Pur, to remove any PFAS or other harmful substances from the water directly prior to consumption, Neil said.
Reverse osmosis treatment and powder-activated carbon are solutions as well, he said.
Point-of-treatment drinking water systems are reviewed and certified by the American National Standards Institute and NSF International, which are non-governmental agencies that test consumer products against established safety standards.
How does Neil take his water? “(I) just drink it out of the tap,” he said.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
